Probably gonna get flak for this, but as a man, I have no issues if women want to stick with other women and I don’t particularly care if I have the option to pick whatever driver I want.
Obviously weirdness and sexual misconduct can occur to both men and women from both men and women, but it’s disingenuous as hell to pretend that men being weird or sexual towards women isn’t the most common by a colossal margin.
No flak. I was gonna post the same thing. Women deserve to feel safe too.
The relationship between men and women (and generally all human interactions) in America has gotten so fucking weird. I agree that people should be able to take personal steps to keep themselves safe. My point is we are so rightfully fearful of each other here because we've completely abandoned the sense of unity in America. Our social safety net, sense of humanity, belief in the good in the world, justice system, and education is so poor it's literally statistically unsafe to be alone with a stranger. It's what happens to your society when hyper individualism takes hold and you end up with a nation of people thinking they are the main character.
Probably gonna get flak for this
Oh please.
You know perfectly well it's not a controversial opinion.
I don’t get why they don’t just make this a global option. Anyone can choose their preferred gender. Some women prefer women, some prefer men. Hell, some men prefer men.
I imagine lawyers are the biggest issue. Anti discrimination laws vary greatly by jurisdiction. This type of de jure discrimination against a privileged group to counter de facto discrimination against a marginalized one is the type of situation that is going to be thorny pretty much everywhere, with differing results everywhere.
They' say they're doing it for women's safety, which makes sense. On its face I agree with you that it should be global, to let everyone express their preference for whoever. Assuming men create most of the harassment/assault issues, though, it could be a bad idea to give those same men the ability to get a woman (or a man) delivered to their location at the push of a button. We could even see cases of that ability attracting unsavory types who would otherwise not even consider using Uber. I don't exactly put a lot of faith in them creating a culture of safety that would prevent it. I myself prefer not men as drivers, and would like the option, but I'm also not a fuckin' creep.
Maybe Uber should be responsible for background checks of their drivers and hold them accountable for their actions and be able to fire them for misconduct. But that might require hiring drivers as actual employees. And then Uber could issue company vehicles.
Oh wait, I'm describing taxi companies that already existed before Uber.
The fact that we allow Uber/Lyft to operate as a way to skirt regulations that were put in place to keep people safe, and then trust Uber will implement work around solutions like this is ridiculous.
Same goes to AirBnB
Awesome, but they should also give men the option to choose to ride with a man.
There's already an app that does that.
It's called grindr.
What if I’ve only been using Uber Black?
I'm a man, but I also prefer women drivers. Their cars tend to be better taken care of and cleaner. they also do a lot better at respecting and pre-empting preferences in regard to heat/music. Maybe it's just my area, but I've actually never had a "normal" experience with a male Uber driver.
Either their car is all clapped out, it's dirty and smells bad, they'll be blasting MAGA rap, or they get real weird with the dropoff. (Like, bro my legs do function and I can walk across the street or down the block a little bit, it's ok, I gave you a different address from where I'm actually going anyway). Never had any issues like that with women as drivers.
I get that they're doing this for reasons of rider safety, but they should let both men and women express a preference.
They should make an app where you have to swipe right on your driver/passenger, and then the app notifies you and you can strike up a conversation and see whether or not you are compatible for ride-sharing.
Now add a "Chatty Cathy" / "Leave me the fuck alone, don't worry I'll still give you a tip as long as we don't have to talk" option.
Most of the comments here seem to be talking about the politics of the gender roles, but no one really seems to be mentioning that Uber should only be used as a very last resort. Call a Taxi, a friend, take public transit. Do not support the VC startup trash that doesn't pay their ~~employees~~ "contractors" living wage.
Came here expecting misogyny-adjacent comments.
...It met my expectations :/
Whenever something like this happens where women speak out or something is done to benefit their safety, men just love showing up to give opinions that nobody asked for.
You could paste this article link in the most progressive-minded group you can think of and, like clockwork, a significant amount of men will be like "Ok great, but..." and drop some turd of a comment that beautifully highlights just how ignorant they are as to how unsafe women actually feel.
Hannah Gadsby did a fantastic show called Nannette which heavily goes into these topics and her own personal experiences. I can't remember the exact quote but she said something like "If this is all surprising to you then you're not talking with the women in your life."
Suddenly the concern trolls love pretending like they care about their local ride-sharing economy because a few women will be more selective sometimes.
“If this is all surprising to you then you’re not talking with the women in your life.”
To be fair, maybe Lemmy is less social than "average"? I'm certainly contributing to that statistic.
...Still, as a guy, it's kind of my experience everywhere. The longer I live, even as isolated as I am, the more I'm bewildered by other men being incapable of following the "don't be a jerk" rule, incapable of shutting up and listening to women, or doing/saying straight up terrible, sexist things, all while knowing that's the tip of the iceberg.
I can't even imagine the experience of being a woman using Uber. It's mind boggling that so many male commenters wag their fingers like they somehow do.
Men being triggered by this is so cringe. Ew.
The sad reality is that women have to worry about being attacked... Not all men are creepy but men need to also hold the shitty men accountable too. The "would you rather be in the woods with a bear or a random man" question broke the internet because it was a strong argument and made a lot of men think about who even they feel comfortable with if alone in the woods.... Most men said the bear, too... Idk many men who are deathly afraid of women and this isnt me saying that men havent been raped, abused, attacked. No human should have to experience ANY intimate violence. The risks are just less statistically. Its not weird to try and mitigate violence on any app...
give men the option to ride with men as well, and nobody will have an issue with this
I don't necessarily even disagree with this feature but I can't help but imagine the outrage if that was almost literally any other group of people.
unless you've actually literally lived as a woman you cannot know the monumental amount of sexual harassment we face and fear on a day-to-day basis. doubly so for trans women. every single moment i am alone in public i am deathly anxious that i could be harassed (sexually or otherwise) or hate-crimed or whatever. and the worst part is, there's nothing i could do about it. the perpetrator would get away scot-free. the cops do not fucking care
however bad you think it is, it's worse. whatever you're imagining, it is exponentially more horrendous
Someone at Uber watched Bojack Horseman…
Said it yesterday about this on a post on my instance.
I drive for Uber occasionally, I am a guy, and got offered this option to only accept women riders. That doesn't seem right...
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